Will take some time getting used to some of these names

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I talked to local 2026 four-star DE McHale Blade about his trip to Evanston in March, his offer in April, and his recruitment going forward.

@lou v has the first story from this weekend's official visitors, talking to three-star OL Brock Heath from Overland Park, Kan.

Greetings Rockers. Hoping you all can help spread the word about the TrueNU auction and merchandise we're launching for round 2 of the Remember Ryan Field campaign. We're $100K on our way to our $250K goal and already closing in on our goal of 100 new TrueNU donors. Jacob Schmidt is crushing it and going to blow through the 2024 goal which obviously benefits football and hoops tremendously. Incredible VIP experience with Coach Braun, OC Zach Lujan and Tim McGarigle which headline a ton of cool stuff. Head over to www.TrueNU.givesmart.com and you can see the preview of the line that launches May 6 at 10 am et. Thanks for your help spreading the word! Go 'Cats!

Article in the Daily about a presentation to an Evanston city committee. No drawings but an indication of about 15,000 seats.

Looks like Cami Henry is back in form…has she been pitching this season? Feels like I haven’t heard her name mentioned much.

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South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski probably won't be coming to Northwestern, according to a source. "Northwestern is not in the cards for him," were the exact words used.

The graduate QB is expected to transfer to a Power Five school rather than stay at SDSU, where he has won two national championships. But it doesn't appear that he will follow in the footsteps of his SDSU offensive coordinator, Zach Lujan, who will be named the new OC at Northwestern according to multiple media reports.

I'm trying to find out more about the situation before I engage in any speculation, and keep in mind that things can always change. But this is certainly a disappointing development. His transferring to Northwestern would have made a lot of sense, given that he already knows and has thrived in Lujan's system.

The Cats have a 1st round bye. They will play the winner of Johns Hopkins vs Michigan at Martin Stadium on Thursday May 2nd, time TBA.

I interviewed Jay Sharman yesterday about the Lakefront Stadium possibility that is looking more and more like it's going to happen.

For those of you who don't know, Jay is the man behind LakeThePosts, a well-connected alum, and the owner of a company that has done a lot of work for NU and the Big Ten. He's also the guy who got the ball rolling for this Lakefront Stadium idea.

I still want to talk to a couple people before publishing the story, but I thought I'd document some notes here just to give you a taste:

- Jay is "75%" sure that the Lakefront Stadium will be built and host NU home games over the next two seasons.

- The initial idea for a temporary stadium on the lake came from Fitz, believe it or not, more than 18 months ago. NU was initially against the idea, saying that it would negatively impact soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, etc., and the idea sort of died on the vine.

- Enter Jay. He got wind of it, sent out an email to his email list (I'm on it) and set off a firestorm among some very influential members of the NU community, including trustees. It snowballed from there.

- NU has done an about-face on the issue. Gragg and one major trustee are spearheading the effort.

- There are obviously still a lot of logistics to work out, everything from parking to ticket distribution, but the idea has broad support. The university and the Big Ten are behind it. Braun is on board, as are the coaches of the impacted sports like men's and women's soccer, women's lacrosse and field hockey. Even an Evanston City Council member, as we've seen in the media, has voiced support.

- The stadium would remain in place for two years. This season’s Ohio State game will still most likely be played at either Wrigley Field or Soldier Field.

With the other thread (1) a bit stale and (2) quite long, I wanted to start a separate standalone thread for guys that I think could be true priorities for us in the spring window. Again doing my best to limit to guys where there are at least reasons to believe they could consider and end up at NU — local guys, those with previous NU offers, ties to position coaches/coordinators, etc.

(Waiting for the day Gronowski goes in with a “No Contact” tag, leading to a personal meltdown until/unless he officially announces his plans for 2024 and 2025.)

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The spring window for the college basketball transfer portal officially closed yesterday, so it’s a good time to look back on what the Wildcats added and subtracted, and where they stand headed into the summer.

The Wildcats began the spring transfer window on March 18 with three clear needs. They wanted to pick up a couple ballhandling guards to defray the losses of Boo Buie and Ryan Langborg, as well as another big to replace the departed Blake Preston.

Six weeks later, they ended up with two of three, landing guard Jalen Leach out of Fairfield and 7-foot big man Keenan Fitzmorris from Stony Brook and, before that, Stanford.

Their only loss to the portal was freshman point guard Parker Strauss, an unknown commodity who redshirted last season and didn’t play. He committed to California-Riverside on April 21.

Northwestern may not be quite finished with their portal moves: May 1 was the deadline for players to enter the portal, but those already in may still sign with other teams at any time. The Wildcats could still add to their roster, but nothing appears imminent and, at this point, all available players are already out there.

Here are three takeaways from the spring window:


Northwestern isn’t desperate to make any more moves: Northwestern was stung when former Stetson guard Jalen Blackmon chose Miami after taking official visits to both schools. The Wildcats may have offered the better landing spot from purely a basketball standpoint, but it appears that the Hurricanes’ NIL dollars won out. Blackmon would have given the Wildcats another combo guard who could handle the ball, or play off of it as a shooting guard.

The program could still add another player, but they feel confident that their current roster can win as it is currently constructed and won’t add a player just to fill a scholarship. The immediate benefactor could be Blake Smith, who emerged as a valuable player last season as a walkon and could be in line for a scholarship.

Right now, their starting five looks to be Leach, Ty Berry and Brooks Barnhizer at guard, Nick Martinelli at wing and Matt Nicholson at center.

Lacking a true point guard who can play full time with the ball in his hands, Northwestern will use a lead-guard-by-committee approach to replace Buie, the program’s all-time leading scorer and arguably its best player of all time. Leach, Brooks Barnhizer and Ty Berry will give them three guards in the starting lineup who can handle the ball. In addition, they will have Jordan Clayton off the bench.

While the Wildcats would have liked to add one more ballhandler, they feel like those four will be enough to get by. The staff always figured they would use a committee approach to replace Buie – the committee is just one player short of where they hoped to be.


The Cats are in good shape in the Bigs Department: The Wildcats really like what Fitzmorris brings to the lineup in what will be his seventh year of college basketball (four at Stanford and two at Stony Brook). He’s a legit 7-footer who offers something they didn’t really have the last two years: a post-up game. He has some crafty footwork in the post – think of Ryan Young, but bigger and more athletic.

Northwestern’s experience in the portal with bigs has been hit-and-miss. Two years ago, Tydus Verhoeven was a perfect fit who gave them a strong presence defensively but almost nothing on the offensive end. Last season, Preston was largely a disappointment on both ends of the floor and was relegated to the bench before Nicholson went down with an injury late in the year. With Fitzmorris, they think they have someone who can contribute on both ends.

It will be interesting to see how the rotation works out at center. Nicholson, the incumbent two-year starter, is recovering from a foot injury, which is always troubling for a big man. Luke Hunger showed what he can do in the NCAA Tournament, when he put up 14 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in the two games combined. Then, there’s Fitzmorris, who nearly doubled Nicholson’s scoring average with 10.9 points per game, along with 4.4 rebounds per game, though those numbers figure to be tempered as he moves up a level.

Don’t be surprised if Fitzmorris challenges Nicholson for the starting job next season, at least in the beginning of the year as the Wildcats’ fifth-year grad eases back into the lineup.


Players need to step up: If Northwestern doesn’t get that one more guard, players will have to step up.

The most obvious one is Clayton. He may not have been ready to play the minutes he did last season as a freshman and it showed, as he shot an abysmal 17.4% from the floor and had a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Clayton will need to develop into a reliable point guard off the bench and, at the very least, be someone they can depend on to fill critical minutes when one of the starting guards needs a rest, gets injured or gets in foul trouble.

Many people both inside and outside of the program were somewhat surprised that Justin Mullins didn’t enter the transfer portal after what can only be seen as a rocky first year in Evanston. The University of Denver transfer was seen at the start of the year as a slasher who could bring some athleticism to the lineup. Instead, he averaged just 5.2 minutes per game and was surpassed on the depth chart by Smith. Will he use last year’s disappointment as fuel to become a contributor next season?

Of the two freshman guards coming in, Angelo Ciaravino may be seen as a bit more of a project, but don’t be surprised if KJ Windham earns some rotational minutes next season. He’s an impressive athlete who scored 15.4 points per game and led Indianapolis (Ind.) Ben Davis to the state title game this season, falling just short in their bid for a repeat.

Any? Can you comingle with 2025 class?

Cuz why not!?!?

PG - Leach 25
SG - Berry 35
W - BB 35
PF - Mart 30
C - MN 25

G - Mullins - 10
W - Smith - 13
C - Hunger - 13

X - Fitz - 4
X - Barkley - 5
X - Clayton - 5

RS - the frosh

And the plus:
- BB gets a triple double
- Mart & BB have more double doubles than games they don’t
- Hunger hits the 3 at legit clip and increases his driving
- Mart hits the 3 as a real threat and learns a skyhook from the right hand, Hummel loses his mind
- we see some twin tower play (about 2 mpg worth) - it’s doesn’t work and we banter around here whether to keep trying or eliminate it
- Ty breaks some records, MN breaks some glass
- one of the frosh force their way onto the floor for the right reasons
- pwb, ppd and sd attend an away game with me by plane, we record our discussions and it seeds the next great podcast - we call it Four Grapes in a Can
- I get fired as the marketing arm for Four Grapes and the podcast gets a new name
- our first guest is gcg - turns out he also only speaks one word responses
- we dance again and make the sweet 16

Hey Gang,

Just a reminder that the Women's Non-Revenue Sports Weekend Tailgate is tomorrow in the West Lot at 9am!

So many reasons to go! Awesome Weather, a huge day for Softball and Lax, get an up close look at the RF teardown, etc! Plus tons of food and drink! Who doesn't love a bonus tailgate! Come join us!

Sam, John, and Scuzz/WLP

Here’s your chance to really get behind the scenes with NU football.

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WildcatReport conducted a 10-question survey of some of the premier programs in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) to take the temperature of the state's best high school coaches on Braun, and their early impressions of him as a recruiter and coach.

This is a project I've been putting together over the past month, I hope you guys enjoy it. I won't play Guess Who? for the anonymous coaches that participated but I am happy to answer anything else you guys have got on the survey and its responses.

Hey Gang,

Just a reminder that the Women's Non-Revenue Sports Weekend Tailgate is tomorrow in the West Lot at 9am!

So many reasons to go! Awesome Weather, a huge day for Softball and Lax, get an up close look at the RF teardown, etc! Plus tons of food and drink! Who doesn't love a bonus tailgate! Come join us!

Sam, John, and Scuzz/WLP

Yvan Kemajou out of Burtonville, MD picks up an NU offer. SAKA 2.0?

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So much happening in Evanston these days. Schill’s tenure is holding on by a thread. Is there anything we can discuss here in a civilized manner?

Colorado administrators must cringe everytime Sanders hits a new low:


I think Shadeur declares for the draft and is done playing school along with his father after this season.

A chance to hear from AJ.....

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Stanford freshman guard just entered.

Does Northwestern have a chance?

I talked to local 2026 four-star DE McHale Blade about his trip to Evanston in March, his offer in April, and his recruitment going forward.